What the newspapers say: March 28, 2011 

Romania will manage to exit the recession at the end of March but the population will feel the improvement of the situation by half of this year, the IMF estimates. Union leader Marius Petcu, caught red handed taking bribe by anti graft prosecutors, was negotiating firmly the bribe he would receive and the installments as tape recordings reveal. The Sunday Times reveals the fourth MEP who accepted money for laws and PSD will decide tomorrow whether to exclude MEP Severin from the party. A Romanian is part of the anti-Qaddafi resistance movement.

Romania libera quotes IMF chief of mission in Romania Jeffrey Franks saying Romania will pull itself from recession by the end of March but that the population will feel the positive effects a few months later. Franks said that his estimates conclude that Romania’s indicators on the economy are almost „universally positive”.

Indicators improved constantly in the first quarter and a modest growth is expected after the first three months of the year. To exit the recession the economy of a country needs to register growth in two consecutive quarters. Romania’s economy increased by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2010 compared to the previous one. For this year, the government and the IMF are expecting a 1.5% economic growth.

Moreover, Franks said that the population will notice the positive effects in a few months time.

Elsewhere in the news, union leader Marius Petcu, arrested last week after being caught red handed, taking bribe, was pressuring the businessman to give him the money he deserved for mediating contracts to him, Romania libera reads. Investigators claim that there are many talks in which Petcu negotiates with businessman Petre Scrieciu the sums of money he should receive and the installments.

From the dialogue, one can infer that Petcu requested his money from the value of the works that the union offered to the businessman. Marius Petcu was released on Friday by the Bucharest Appellate Court that decided that the union leader can be freed.

Anti graft prosecutors appealed the decision and the Higher Court of Justice will decide this week whether Petcu will be arrested again.

The Sunday Times released the name of the fourth MEP, Spanish Pablo Zalba Bidegain who agreed to modify EU laws in exchange of money, Evenimentul Zilei reads.The Sunday Times investigation seems to have triggered the biggest corruption scandal in the EP.

Today, the Social Democratic Party will also decide whether Romanian MEP Adrian Severin, involved in the EP scandal will be excluded from the party. PSD member Marian Vanghelie says that the decision is taken already, and in his opinion Severin was wrong politically.

Last but not least, Gandul talks about a Romanian, part of the anti-Qaddafi resistance in Libya. Ali Issawi, former Economy minister in the Tripoli government pursued his Phd in Romania, at ASE University in Bucharest. Issawi became the youngest minister, aged 45, in the Tripoli government and was sacked in 2009 and sent to exile as Ambassador to India because he used to oppose the Prime Minister.

Once the rebellion against Qaddafi started, Issawi returned to Libya where he is part of the anti-Qaddafi movement.